Where Does California Wine Come From?

To some, California wine and Napa wine are the same. That is, when they think of premium California wine, they are focused on Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. This isn't the reality of California wine.

 

image from lizthachmw.com

California has over 600,000 acres of wine grapes. Second is Washington State with 50,000; that's less acreage than Sonoma County. 

Where Agriculture is Big 

Almost three-fourths of California's wine grapes come from the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys. These are not American Viticultural Areas, but there are several AVAs within the region. Clarksburg and Lodi are the best-known ones. Clarksburg is known for Chenin Blanc and Petite Sirah, Lodi for Zinfandel. 

These two huge farming valleys contain the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers and their tributaries. They comprise the Central Valley, with a length of 450 miles long and an average width of 50 miles.

The Central Valley is mostly about inexpensive wines -- jug wines, box wine, and some widely-distributed wines such as CK Mondavi.  You'll find these wines labeled as California wine rather than more specific AVAs. 

A quarter of the country's food supply comes from the Central Valley. 

Main Grape Growing Areas

Central Valley  
Hot, dry summers, warm nights, and fertile soil give large yields. As was said above, this includes Clarksburg, Lodi, and a few other smaller AVAs. Clarksburg is in The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, with afternoon winds on summer afternoons keeping it a bit cooler than the surrounding areas. The soil is alluvial (river sediment). Lodi gets summer afternoon breezes from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, cooling temperatures down, while other nearby areas are still getting hotter.

North Coast  
North of the SF Bay with warm days and cool nights with suboptimal farming soil. There are cooling influences off of the ocean and the bay. The cool nights help grapes maintain good acidity; the soil conditions stress the vines, sending most of the nutrients to the grapes, giving concentrated flavors and colors. This region includes Napa and Sonoma. Napa produces four percent of California wine; Sonoma six percent. Sonoma County has almost ten percent of the state's vineyards (60,000 acres). Premium wine has less tonnage per acre than the Central Valley.

Central Coast  
Runs 300 miles from south of the SF Bay to north of LA. The ocean and the many valleys define the region, including Paso Robles, Monterey, and Santa Barbara growing areas. Cooling winds off the Pacific get funneled in between rugged mountain ranges. The San Andreas Fault runs through here and contributes to the topography and soils. Paso Robles is warmer than most of this region; Monterey is cooler. Paso has nine percent of the state's vineyard acreage.

South Coast 
LA to the border, including the Temecula Valley. SoCal is the birthplace of California viticulture, with the first mission grapes in the 1700s. The growing season is blessed with warm, sunny days with the influence of the Pacific. Chardonnay is the most popular grape.

Sierra Foothills   
It runs along the west side of the central Sierra Mountains, with hot summer days and cooler nights, depending on elevation. The history here is about the California Gold Rush. The main road running through the regions is State Highway 49, named after the forty-niners (the people who came to seek their fortune beginning in 1849). The most common grape is Zinfandel. The best-known growing region is Amador County. There are less than 6,000 acres of vineyards in this region.